Team Vitality Team Vitality Europe Rank #5 trexx Nikita Cherednichenko Derke Nikita Sirmitev Kicks Kimmie Laasner Sayf Saif Jibraeel Less Felipe de Loyola Basso dominated FUT Esports FUT Esports Europe Rank #8 xeus Doğan Gözgen MrFaliN Furkan Yeğen yetujey Eray Budak AtaKaptan Ata Tan qRaxs Doğukan Balaban over two maps in the VCT EMEA Kickoff upper semifinals, placing them just one win away from reaching Masters Bangkok.

This win marks just the second victory the bees find over FUT, a rivalry that dates back to 2022's tier 2 VRL Finals. The Turkish squad has almost always come out on top: one of Vitality's two wins over FUT came just last year, during the third week of Stage 1. Their second win was today, and it was dominant.

Vitality on stage after their win Are you not entertained? (Photo by Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games)

Vitality only gave FUT an edge when they attacked on Bind, FUT's pick. The bees were already 9-3 up by then and, while they dropped four more rounds, a timeout put them right back into the game and threw them to a 13-7 win. It was a crucial victory for Vitality — who barely lost rounds where they held a number advantage — as the next map was their pick.

On Split, there was absolutely no breathing room for the Turkish squad. It didn't matter where FUT attacked or defended, basically nothing worked. Vitality ran them over and took a 13-4 win on their pick.

xeus was a key member of keeping FUT in contention on Bind. The newest addition to the Turkish roster was seemingly at the right place and the right time in most rounds, adding up to 6 multikills, tied for the most with Derke , but that effort was not enough.

Vitality's camp showed a strong contrast to FUT on the first map, as no one single player seemed head and shoulders above the rest. The highlights go to Derke's six entry frags across 17 kills, as well as Kicks ' performance, worthy of a 1.42 rating and 179 ADR.

On Split, Derke led the charge for his team with a 3.0 KDR and 2.19 rating, accruing 27 kills and 278 ADR in one of the most individually dominant performances so far this season.

The level of synergy Vitality have achieved.

Most importantly, Vitality's dominating win sets them apart from the rest of the field. Despite other teams finding 2-0 wins so far, nobody has done so while losing as few rounds as Vitality did today.

Gentle Mates Gentle Mates Europe Rank #36 K4DAVRA Thomas Johner RobbieBk Robbie Boerkamp Minny Patrik Hušek Zyppan Pontus Eek Click Haydem Ali , while they won a 2-0 over Apeks Apeks Europe Rank #3 florescent Ava Eugene hype Tautvydas Paldavicius MOLSI Michał Łącki AvovA Auni Chahade batujnax Mehmet Batu Özaslan , have since dropped to the lower bracket. The only other team who won a match flawlessly was Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #1 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius , earlier today over BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #17 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen sociablEE Volkan Yonal PROFEK Dawid Święć vakk Vakaris Bebravičius stand-in LewN Burak Alkan . That means the upper bracket final, played February 7, is a bout between the two most convincing teams of Kickoff this far.

There are two rounds of lower bracket play between now and then, though. Two matches are scheduled for tomorrow, Jan. 30, and two more for Jan 31., Friday. FUT will return on Friday to play GIANTX GIANTX Europe Rank #146 purp0 Semyon Borchev Cloud Kirill Nehozhin runneR Emil Trajkovski westside Miłosz Duda tomaszy Tomás Machado or Team Liquid Team Liquid Europe Rank #23 paTiTek Patryk Fabrowski kamyk Maks Rychlewski nAts Ayaz Akhmetshin Keiko Georgio Sanassy kamo Kamil Frąckowiak , who face off tomorrow.

The second round of the VCT EMEA Kickoff lower bracket is: